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Trying to leave no doubts about when a teacher should be removed from the classroom or stripped
of a license, Ohio lawmakers yesterday proposed closing loopholes that have allowed some educators
to switch districts and escape a criminal past.

Identical bills in the House and Senate would require that the state automatically revoke a
teacher's license if he or she is convicted of one of more than 80 criminal offenses -- the same
crimes that currently prevent a person from getting a teaching license in the first place.

Those offenses include murder, rape, unlawful sexual contact with a minor, gross sexual
imposition, prostitution, pandering obscenity and a host of drug and firearms offenses.

Under the bills, which likely will get legislative hearings next week, a district must remove a
teacher from the classroom immediately if he or she is charged with any of the disqualifying
offenses.

"I think in some cases, there has been some doubt as to whether a situation really came up to a
certain degree of notification," said Rep. Arlene J. Setzer, R-Vandalia, a former teacher who is
sponsoring the bill in the House. "We're trying to make it crystal clear where the boundaries
are."

The bills come in response to a
Dispatch investigation last fall that found the state's system for catching
and disciplining rule-breaking educators was riddled with problems.

To ensure that school districts know when a teacher has run afoul of the law, the bills also
would give the Ohio Department of Education access to daily arrest reports from the state Bureau of
Criminal Identification and Investigation. With this information, state officials hope the
department will quickly notify a district when a teacher shows up on the list.

The legislature recently adopted similar arrest-record notification for bus drivers.

In November, the Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill requiring broader criminal
background checks for teachers by requiring them to undergo an FBI review every five years. The
bill also requires the Department of Education to develop a teacher code of conduct and gives the
agency the ability to revoke an expired license to prevent teachers convicted of crimes from going
to teach in another state.

At the time, legislative leaders said that would be only the first step toward dealing with the
teacher-discipline problem.

Setzer and Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, unveiled the next step late yesterday afternoon.
Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, and Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, want to pass the
new bills this year, their spokeswomen said.

Cates said in a release that while he thinks the vast majority of teachers are honorable, "we
must ensure that the few do not have an opportunity to abuse the trust placed in them."

Under the bills, the state Education Department also would get access to the attorney general's
office's Law Enforcement Gateway, a secure database providing details about criminal cases, such as
arrest reports and statements.

The bills also would give the state more authority to impose disciplinary action on licensed
teachers, even if their crimes do not result in prison time.

Lawmakers also hope to add state Board of Education recommendations on penalties for school
districts. Setzer said those ideas still are being tweaked.